The present invention relates generally to devices used in product manufacturing, and more particularly to a transfer plate for transferring products to or from a conveyor belt and a method of interfacing a transfer plate to a belt.
Various designs of transfer plates are currently employed in manufacturing processes, such as beverage bottling and canning processes, for example. A given manufacturing process or process step may dictate the type of conveyor belt to be used in a transfer process. Generally, like the present invention, prior transfer plates included a support plate and a transfer extension depending from the support plate. However, the support plates of prior devices were attached to a support structure, thereby maintaining the plate in a desired position. Such attachment was most often provided by way of threaded fasteners securing the support plate to the support structure at a desired location.
Mechanical fastening by way of threaded fasteners is undesirable for a variety of reasons. First, several plates may be placed side-by-side to span the entire width of a predetermined belt. Generally, use of threaded fasteners requires threaded receivers having nonvolatile positioning, thereby limiting the adjustability of the plates. Thus, if the width of the belt is not conducive to lining up a plurality of stationary plates, full utility of the belt may not be possible. In addition to limited adjustability, prior devices offered little, if any, flotation, or acceptable operational movement, of the plates. Indeed, depending upon belt style, belt speed and belt load conditions, multidirectional stresses may be exerted on a transfer plate. Regarding prior transfer plates incorporating fingers, there may be belt forces exerted primarily in two directions: a radial force may be caused by the belt acting on the bottom surface of the fingers, thereby exerting an upward force; and, a lateral force may be caused by loss of precise belt tracking. Prior devices relied on primarily the flexibility of the fingers of prior devices to withstand the applied forces, thereby leading to an increase in the breakage rate where the flexibility of the plate material cannot cope with the applied multidirectional forces. Finally, along with the limited adjustability and lack of multidirectional flotation, prior devices may result in significant machine downtime because of required tooling for replacement. That is, a qualified repair person may be required if the machine operator is not familiar with, or capable of, replacing worn or broken interface plates. If the machine must be shut down while waiting for the qualified repair person, significant productivity is lost.
At least one improvement has been made over the standard threaded fastener connection between prior transfer plate devices and their support structures. The improvement included the use of a flanged U-shaped channel mounting structure, normally referred to as a DIN, or top-hat, rail mounting structure. While a DIN rail removes the tool requirement from the transfer plate replacement equation, such mounting structure does not offer desirable flotation of the transfer plate. That is, prior plates mounted to a DIN rail utilize an opposing clip structure that secures the plates to the DIN rail. Such attachment does not allow any flotation, or positional variance, of the finger plate with respect to the support structure.
Therefore, the art of transferring materials to or from conveyor belts would be benefited by a transfer plate and cooperating support structure that eliminates the need for tools during plate replacement while simultaneously reducing the frequency of replacement situations caused by breakage and, in the event of breakage, reduces machine downtime.